Swimming and beach at Montgo (L'Escala)

Montgo is one of the four beach areas of L'Escala and is a long sandy stretch in a half moon bay surrounded by cliffs on one side and modern houses and villas on the other on the hill below the tower of Montgo.

The area is some way away from the main centre of L'Escala but there are seasonal bars, shops and restaurants on and around the beach and a large campsite area meaning that it does become relatively busy during the summer season.

The beach is broad with fine sand, though there are pebbles in amongst the sand towards the back. Looking out to sea along the left hand side, the coast is rocky underneath the villas above with a path that reaches to the bay entrance. On the right hand side, a path (which is rough underfoot) runs over the top of the cliffs to unspoilt hills on the far side of the bay with caves in amongst the cliffs.

When we were visiting there were long-distance swimmers with safety floats swimming the cliff side of the bay which is part of a bigger swimming club SwimTheCostaBrava.com which also organises long distance swims (4-6km) along the Costa Brava during the summer.

The beach itself by the water has good sand and shelves gently into the water making it very suitable for children and the building of sand castles. On a July weekend it was popular - parking nearby was relatively full - but not too busy. We saw many French and Dutch people at the beach.

For swimming the bay has very clear water to a sandy bottom with good opportunities to swimming a reasonable distance either along the side or across the bay. We saw fish in the sandier areas - shoals of anchovies which is appropriate for L'Escala - and there are more closer to the rocks.

Facilities at the beach

The beach is backed by a small summer community with a supermarket, wine store and a variety of souvenir shops. Directly behind the beach are many discrete bars and restaurants looking over the bay without feeling built up or over developed. Directly behind these is a large campground and then the estate of villas on the hill so it feels developed without being spoilt.

Directly on the beach is a Chiringuito and it is possible to hire pedalos (which a long slide), canoes and stand-up paddle-boards.

Sand quality

The sand is fine particularly close to the water where we saw lots of sand castles. At the back the sand has rounded pebbles in it - not enough to be stony, but enough to make it unsuitable for football or beach volleyball.

Swimming

The bay has a gentle slope so would be good for children. We found the water to be a little chillier than we were expecting in July, but the area to the right side of the bay seemed warmer, but this may just have been the day we were visiting.

There are good opportunities for long distance swimming and as mentioned we saw what looked like an official swimming club practising sea-swimming along the right hand of the bay underneath the cliffs. (See SwimTheCostaBrava.com which is the open water swimming club)

For snorkling, most of the main bay is sandy so not so good for fish. The rocks to the left and right would be better, but we didn't explore too much.

Parking

There is parking behind the beach and along the roads, particularly by the campsites. We struggled to find parking spaces close to the beach on a July Weekend, but had no problem with a 5 minute walk from the roads further back.

Walks and exploring

It's possible to walk into L'Escala along the coast and by the port or to walk across the clifftops into the Montgri Massif. The walk to L'Escala/Riells is quite far and if you take the road is just a town walk. See: L'Escala Riells to sea cliffs and viewpoint of Montgo